Addis Abeba's vital events registration agency is set to procure 200 security printers and seals to prevent birth, death and marriage certificates as well as digital identification cards from being forged. The procurement could cost over 50 million Br.

For the procurement of the printers, the Addis Abeba Vital Events Registration & Information Agency is in the final stage of floating an international tender through the city's Public Procurement & Property Disposal Agency. The bid is expected to be announced in the coming few weeks.

The security printers will be distributed to all of the 113 weredasacross the city and the remaining will be held as a reserve in case of technical failures and problems. The printers will print security features and seals on the certificates and IDs that cannot be easily reprinted. The Agency expects to fully launch the project in three months.

"We've been challenged with forgeries," said Takele Necha (PhD), director-general of Agency, "and the printers will help us to fight against forged documents."

Currently, the Agency is printing temporary IDs and certificates at the Berhanena Selam Printing Enterprise, the giant state-owned printing company. The two parties signed an agreement for the printing of birth, marriage and death certificates as well as citizenship IDs in November 2018.

The printing press only prints the IDs and certificates after receiving the unique number on each ID and certificate, giving each document its own barcode. During the last fiscal year, the Agency paid 27 million Br to Berehana Selam for the printing service, and it intends to spend 35 million Br in this fiscal year.

The current IDs and certificates printed by Berhanena Selam have a barcode that can be read by ultraviolet barcode readers, which are only found at the Agency and some federal institutions. Banks, embassies, hotels and any institutions that require IDs are required to only consider IDs issued after 2018.

The software for the City Administration's civil status registration management system was developed by Techno Brain Ethiopia several years ago. So far, the Agency has served 579,000 residents of the city with the new system.